


We Could Be Friends

by grumpyphoenix



Series: Brain Salad [7]
Category: The Goonies (1985)
Genre: 80s movie style bullying, AO3 FB Challenge, Canon Compliant, M/M, Not Beta Read, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 20:36:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15151337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grumpyphoenix/pseuds/grumpyphoenix
Summary: After the gold, life gets weird for Brand.





	We Could Be Friends

**Author's Note:**

> There was a challenge on the AO3 Facebook page, and I decided it would be good for the Brain Salad series, so I combined it.   
> #AO3 FB Challenge  
> Fandom: Rare Fandom  
> Pairing: Non-Shipped Pairing/NOTP  
> Setting: Canon Compliant

The gold lets them all keep their homes, but it’s the story that changes their lives. Mikey is the default leader of the group, and so he is the one who goes on tv to tell their story, along with Chunk, the kid who took down the Fratellis. The Astoria Museum recreates the One Eyed Willy exhibit, pictures of Mikey and Chunk with pirate hats and giant grins plastered on either side of it. It gets more visitors in one week than it has in twenty years. The town itself gets a shot in the arm filled with money as treasure hunters come to comb the ocean for the shipwreck. The rest of the cash from their pirate treasure goes by unanimous decision, to save everyone else on the Goon Docks from eviction. 

This makes Brand a hero at school among a certain crowd. No matter what he says, the perception is that he’s humble; there’s no way his little brother is the leader of their gang of misfits. He gets made team captain even though Troy is the better choice. Brand is strong and loyal, but Troy is devious and has a mind for strategy.

The first time the rich douchebags try to intimidate Brand it almost works. Troy has a gang of other country club assholes with him, probably all named Chad or Tad or whatever. Brand isn’t sure he has a chance to make it out of the fight without getting badly hurt, and he almost lets them win, hands up placatingly. One of them backs Brand up against a locker, fist flying at his nose, he can see Troy’s panicked look out of the corner of his eye, and it inspires him to duck and punch. Dammit all, he survived the fucking Fratellis, what is he doing being scared of  _ these  _  assholes. They all run when someone calls ‘teacher!’, Troy lingering at the back as they retreat, eyes on him, relieved and worried.

They threaten him constantly, and Brand is as stoic as he can be about it. His eyes always find Troy’s even if he does hide in the back of the group of rich douchebags, trying not to be seen. Ignoring everyone but him ignites Troy’s temper every single time, and a dark well inside Brand lights up every time he incites Troy to violence. He never wants to see that fucking worried look on the guy’s face ever again. He doesn’t need pity.

Football players don’t get detention, but his mother gives him holy hell for the bruises he brings home on the regular now. They’ve graduated to threatening Mikey, which won’t fly. Troy, sullen and withdrawn, tries to make them stop, and it doesn’t work. Brand can’t get him pissed off enough to hit him any more, and he’s aware that they’ve taken to making Troy their own personal punching bag. Something vicious inside him laughs at how far the guy’s social standing with the assholes has fallen. He’d feel sorry for the twerp if he hadn’t tried to kill Brand by launching him off a cliff.

It comes to a head after a football game. They’ve lost, of course, because Troy was better at this, and Brand secretly really hates the game. The atmosphere inside the locker room is grim, so he stays behind to shower and get dressed in peace. He’s coming back, towel draped around his hips, when he hears Chad and Tad harassing Troy. The plan is laughable, and Brand wouldn’t have fallen for it regardless, but they leave the guy there to draw him outside for whatever mayhem they have planned. When they go, he moves, fast and silent, grabbing Troy around the neck and dragging him into the showers.

Pushing him against the wall, arm over his chest, Brand stares into his eyes, furious.

“I am done with this crap, Troy. Why do you let them treat you like that?”

Troy swallows. “You took Andy. You made my father so…” there’s a haunted look around his eyes that pisses Brand off.

He presses harder, his body flush against Troy’s. “You didn’t care about Andy, and you know it. Tell them no. They’re gonna take this too far one day, and you can fall with them, or just...be a friend. You could be a real friend.”

Troy has this look, this dazed look, on his face. He licks his lips and manages, “D...d..does she know?”

Brand tilts his head quizzically, and Troy’s eyes flick downwards, and then up. Embarrassed, out of words. Then he feels his body where it presses against Troy, a long line of heat, all the way down. He’s hard, harder than he’s been in forever, and he flashes back to countless nights of inept fumbling in the dark, Andy taking it personally until he learned how to use his tongue to distract her.  He feels like he should be...something right now. Angry? Ashamed, maybe, but instead all he can feel is that Troy, his eyes squeezed shut, almost hyperventilating, is hard too.

He shimmies so the towel gives up and falls on the floor. The look on Troy’s face makes him smile. It is not a nice smile, and when Troy opens his eyes and registers it, he shivers. Excited. Conflicted.  Brand rolls his hips, pulling a gasp from the guy.

“Yeah,” he says, shifting, hand on Troy’s throat. “We can be real good friends. What do you say, Troy?”


End file.
